Ch. 14 – Labor’s Response to Industrialism/EQ: Was the Rise of Industry good for American Workers?
14.1 – Introduction
 Like most factory workers at the time, Schneiderman worked long hours under difficult conditions.
 At night, she returned home to a crowded, run-down apartment.
 But Schneiderman was determined to improve these conditions.
 In 1909, Schneiderman helped organize a major labor action known as the "Uprising of 20,000."
 Two years later, a tragedy at a garment factory helped focus even more attention on the plight of workers.
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Over the years, Schneiderman continued her efforts on behalf of American workers. She became one of the
key figures in the American labor movement.
14.2 – Conditions of the Working Class
 In the Gilded Age, however, a class system started to emerge in the United States.
 "Those who are above the point of separation are elevated, but those who are below are crushed down."
 The people being crushed belonged to the working class.
Many Workers Labored Under Terrible Conditions
 The working class included men, women, and children.
 They provided the skill and the muscle that helped push American productivity to new heights and made
employers rich.
 Industrial workers had an exhausting schedule
 the factory system relied on a division of labor.
o This meant that production was divided into separate tasks, with one task assigned to each worker.
 Workers often performed their tasks in hazardous environments.
 Laborers put up with such adversity, or hardship, because they could lose their jobs if they protested.
Widespread Child Labor
 Children worked in industry for two main reasons. First, even with both parents employed, a typical family
could barely survive.
 Secondly, children earned less than adults, so factory owners were happy to employ them.
 Throughout the 1800s, critics voiced concerns about child labor.
 Some states enacted laws setting a minimum age for workers, often 14 or 15 years.
 However, these laws led to little change.
 Child workers experienced some of the most dangerous working conditions.
 The great mass of workers, especially immigrants, lived in slums—heavily populated parts of a city marked
by filth and squalor.
o
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Jane Addams, a social reformer, described a typical slum in Chicago:
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The streets are inexpressibly dirty, the number of schools inadequate, sanitary legislation
unenforced, the street lighting bad, the paving miserable and altogether lacking in the alleys
and smaller streets, and the stables foul beyond description.
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—Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, 1910
In the slums, workers lived in tenements, run-down apartment buildings of four to six stories, usually housing
four families on each floor.
Disease flourished in such cramped and often airless quarters, and fire was an ever-present danger.
14.3 – The Labor Movement
Workers Unite for Better Conditions
 In the early years of the Industrial Revolution, some workers developed a strategy for improving their lives.
They formed labor unions.
 A labor union is a group of workers organized to protect the interests of its members.
 Much of a union's power came from the threat of a strike, a labor action in which workers simply refuse to
go to work.
A Difficult Start for National Labor Organizations
 After the Civil War, local unions began to realize that they might benefit from cooperating with each other to
achieve their goals.
 As a result, a number of unions joined forces to form a national labor federation, or group of unions.
 In times of economic crisis, high unemployment intensified the competition for jobs.
 Some business owners used this competition to undermine unions.
Common Goals, Different Strategies
 During the depression of the 1870s, business owners' tactics succeeded in smashing many labor unions.
 After the economy regained its strength, however, the labor movement also revived.
 One of these new federations was the Knights of Labor.
 It attracted many members in the late 1870s with a policy of accepting both skilled and unskilled workers,
including women and African Americans.
 That rival group was the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
 Unlike the Knights, the AFL concentrated mainly on organizing skilled workers.
 It also had a more narrow focus on "bread-and-butter" worker objectives, such as higher wages and shorter
workdays.
 In the early 1900s, another labor organization arose, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
 IWW members saw socialism as the path to a better life for workers.
 They engaged in collective bargaining—negotiations between employers and employee representatives
concerning wages, working conditions, and other terms of employment.
14.4 – Strikes Erupt Nationwide
 confrontations between unions and owners increased.
Violence Marks the Railroad Strike of 1877
 In 1877, rail workers in West Virginia went on strike.
 To keep the tracks closed, strikers battled police and state militias.
 It was the first time the U.S. Army had been used to break a strike, but it would not be the last.
More Strikes, More Violence
 The Railroad Strike of 1877 boosted union membership and gave members a greater sense of their own
power. In the years that followed, national labor organizations tried to harness that power to change
working conditions.
 Three major events during this period underscored the growing struggle between owners and workers: the
Haymarket Affair, the Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike.
 The Haymarket Affair took place in Chicago in 1886.
o A group of anarchists—people who reject all forms of government—called for a protest meeting the
next day in Haymarket Square.
o In the confusion that followed, someone threw a bomb that exploded among the police.
o Panicked, the police fired into the crowd, killing at least four protesters. Several officers died.
o The bomber was never identified, but four radical anarchists were tried and executed for their part
in the demonstration.
o The Haymarket Affair divided and confused the labor movement.
 The Homestead Strike came several years later, in 1892. It involved iron- and steelworkers at the Carnegie
Steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania.
o
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After a daylong gun battle in which nine strikers died, the Pinkerton agents gave up and the strikers
took control of the town.
o Frick brought in nonunion workers to run the plant, and the union was shut out for the next four
decades.
In the Pullman Strike of 1894, the government again supported management against striking workers.
o Its members shut down most rail traffic in the Midwest by refusing to handle trains with Pullman
cars.
o Some of those trains included mail cars, and interfering with the mail was a federal offense.
o Therefore, President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago to break the strike.
14.5 – Mixed Success for Unions
 The union struggles of the late 1800s brought mixed results for organized labor.
Setbacks: Government Favors Owners over Workers
 Although the Railroad Strike of 1877 helped boost union membership, it prompted the federal government
to take the side of business owners in most labor disputes.
 The Pullman Strike revealed one way the federal government could intervene to favor employers over
unions.
 To end the strike, a federal court issued an injunction against the American Railway Union and its head,
Eugene V. Debs.
 To thrive, unions needed the support and respect of the American people.
 They failed to win either.
Gains: Unions Win Small Bread-and-Butter Victories
 Most unions remained relatively small in the late 1800s.
 Only about 10 percent of the employed labor force joined unions.
 Yet for that minority, work hours and wages improved steadily
 Wages and hours for nonunion workers also improved, though not to the same degree.
 Unions achieved more than just better wages, hours, and working conditions.
 They also won some recognition of workers' rights.
Summary
The efforts of industrial workers in the late 1800s helped boost the American economy. Yet factory owners often
treated their workers poorly, imposing low wages, long hours, and poor working conditions. Many workers joined
labor unions to fight for better treatment and to raise their standard of living. But hostility between unions and
employers sometimes led to violence.
Working-class conditions The working class suffered greatly during the Gilded Age. Industrial workers accepted low pay
and dangerous conditions because they could not afford to lose their jobs. Many working-class families occupied rundown tenements in poor city slums.
Child labor American industry relied on the labor of whole families, including children, who often worked longer hours
than adults.
Labor unions Workers united to form labor unions and to negotiate better wages and working conditions. Union
membership increased with the rise of national unions and labor federations, such as the American Federation of Labor.
Strikes Failed negotiations led often to strikes and sometimes to violence. The government generally took the side of
business and industry and often helped to break strikes.
Losses and gains for workers Periodic depressions shrank union membership, while violent incidents like the Haymarket
Affair, Homestead Strike, and Pullman Strike helped turn public opinion against unions. However, unions gained wage
increases and reductions in work hours.